


you don't look innocent enough

by smallredboy



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Abigail Hobbs Lives, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Bonding, Chess Metaphors, Gen, Minor Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22727887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/pseuds/smallredboy
Summary: Miriam Lass visits Abigail at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
Relationships: Abigail Hobbs & Miriam Lass
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11
Collections: Ladies Bingo 2019





	you don't look innocent enough

**Author's Note:**

> **ladies bingo:** old and new
> 
> i want abigail and miriam to bond over Similar Experiences, thatse all.

"Am I being put on an asylum for my own safety?" Abigail asks, looking at Chilton intently.

He grins at her. She can't quite tell any injuries from getting shot— he's got a good grip on makeup and contacts, it seems, but he does still have a cane. "You've definitely got some disorder," he tells her.

"That doesn't make me criminally insane."

"No, it does not," he nods. "But the guards at other prisons would be keen on you."

"And what makes you think your guards won't?"

He stays quiet for a long time. "The incidents of sexual assault at my hospital are the lowest in the state, Abigail Hobbs. You will be as safe as you can be here."

She gives him a small grin. "Well, thank you for the honors, Dr. Chilton."

She still hates that she's been given a sentence, mind you. She wishes Alana hadn't told the jury about her pushing her out of the window, but it was rather hard to avoid. The duress excuse hadn't quite worked, as much as she tried to explain all that had happened to her under Hannibal's grip.

But she's still alive.

She remembers Hannibal explaining it to her, in a manner that reminded her awfully of her father.  _ I need to kill you, Abigail. Will betrayed us and you will be captured and put prisoner. _

She guesses he was right. At least it's the lightest sentence she could've gotten.

"Who are you?" she asks from her cell at the sight of a woman in front of it. She can't quite recognize her, but there's something about her that strikes a chord with her. She can't quite tell, but it looks like she has a prosthetic arm.

"Miriam Lass," she says. "I got a slot for an interview with you."

The name makes her scratch her head. She  _ swears _ she's heard that name before. "Do I know you?"

She sighs. "Sort of. Come on, let me show you to the interview room."

As per usual, she's put in handcuffs on the table, unable to move much, as to not cause problems. She's been a perfect inmate, all things considered, but Abel Gideon was also a perfect inmate once.

"I was the Ripper's old toy," Miriam says. "He kidnapped me and I was in a hole beneath a cabin for two years."

"Oh." She swallows. "Well, I'm his new toy, I suppose."

"You were." She shudders and fiddles with her hands. "The only two victims of the Ripper to come out alive."

She doesn't like to think of herself as a victim, but every other word is even more rotten. She wasn't an accomplice, she wasn't an accessory. It makes her see red for everyone to ignore the fact that she was forced into these situations.

"You're not counting Will Graham," Abigail notes. A long pause follows. "Well, I suppose he's more of an accomplice than a victim now."

"Oh, yes," she nods. "I heard he went off to Europe to look for him."

"I doubt he plans to catch him." She sighs. "Their bond was… unusual. Hannibal told me so."

"Hannibal wants to devour him," Miriam tells her. "Not even sure if I mean in his usual way."

"Perhaps it is both."

"Maybe."

The silence continues, and Miriam is the one to break it— "I know you've already told plenty of people what he did to you, but I want to hear it. I went through all of it, too."

"Well," Abigail says, grinning at her sadly as she shows off her scar where her ear used to be. "I lost my ear. You lost an arm."

She nods heavily. "You agreed to your ear getting cut off, and to your blood getting clinically removed to fake your murder."

"It was either that or get murdered for real," she says, a bitter laugh escaping her. "Did he feed you?"

"Oh, yes. He had no holds barred about telling me that it was people, too. He would say their names, their occupations, how old they were."

"And you had no choice but to eat."

"Yeah."

"I think I could've left," Abigail says, looking down at the table. "But then he would've chased me down. Gutted me like he gutted Will."

"He probably would've," she nods. "You knew too much."

"You know too much, too."

She laughs, tilting her head. "I didn't know anything when Jack found me. I just knew I had been held captive by the Ripper. He made damn sure for me to not remember anything else. It was… a long process, to remember."

"You shot Chilton while trying to remember," Abigail says.

"Oh, I did," she nods. "I think he put the idea in my head when I had therapy with him. It was all part of his plan. Just a sick pawn in his game of chess."

"Is the king in this game of chess?"

"Naturally. We got a check and he fled."

"Then who's the queen?"

Miriam sobers up and takes a sip from the water bottle she brought with her. "I'd think Bedelia Du Maurier is a prime suspect for being his queen. She left the States along with him."

"Will did, too," Abigail points out.

"I think he  _ wants _ to be his queen. But right now he's just a rook."

"And we were both pawns," she says heavily. "Well, you were a pawn. I prefer to think that I was a knight."

"You certainly did some dirty work for him," she says.

"Dr. Bloom hasn't come to see me yet." She huffs. "I guess it's hard to get over someone pushing you through a window."

"She was limping, last time I saw her."

Abigail makes a face. She hates the fact she hurt Will and Alana in the process of falling under Hannibal's machinations, but there's nothing to be done about that now. Will had come to visit her, telling her he had to go find Hannibal, his hand on his gut. She had asked him what he would do when he found him, but he offered her no response.

Was he going to kill him? Was he going to forgive him? It could easily be both.

"Tell her I'm sorry if you see her again," she says.

"I'm sure she knows you're sorry," Miriam says. "My time here is running up. I gotta do stuff— Jack has been telling me to get therapy, and all that."

Abigail smiles at her. "I think we all need some therapy that isn't from the Ripper. See you around, Miriam."

She offers her a sympathetic nod, smiling back. "See you around, Abigail." She reaches for the door. "Get her back to her cell, please."


End file.
